Intro to Concealed Carry for Ladies – Panteao’s new video is a great resource

“How you train is what translates into real life use. If you’re used to just walking up and picking up that gun any old way to establish your firing grip, that’s exactly what you’re going to do in real life…you want to make sure that every thing that you practice is a good, solid, fundamental skill that you’re going to be able to duplicate with success in real life.” Nikki Turpeaux

Panteao Productions has a new DVD available for pre-order and it’s a really good one; perhaps one of the best ones they’ve released yet. Intro to Concealed Carry For Ladies is exactly that, an excellent introduction to concealed carry for females. While many aspects of concealed carry are gender neutral, anyone who thinks a female armed citizen has the same concerns and issues to deal with as a male armed citizen is deluding themselves. Turpeaux does an excellent job of addressing many of those concerns. In fact, she did such a good job of explaining things I’d never even considered (or am not equipped to consider) that I’m ordering a copy for some of my family members.

WTF is an A-line dress? Who knew you could roll armed in a cocktail dress without carrying off body?

Now, some of those chapters might seem counter-intuitive, but I was pleasantly surprised at the contents of each one and I was equally happy to have learned a few things. Honestly, it was when I watched the segment on handgun selection that I knew I was going to like the video.

“A lot of people have their own opinions. A lot of friends or family members, people you may know who were former military or law enforcement, they may have their favorite guns and the ones that they really love and of course they’re naturally they’re going to want you to get that gun that they really love…but would you necessarily want them picking out your vehicle? Or ladies would you want a guy to pick out an entire outfit for you without you having ever seen it or tried it on? Probably not gonna work out so well, so I recommend that before you purchase a gun you go into your local gun range or go out with a friend or family member and just try, test-fire different makes and models, different calibers, and really find what gun works for you.” Nikki Turpeaux

Brilliant. Simple and true. How many of us have been approached by a prospective new shooter and asked, “What kind of gun should I buy?” It’s an understandable question, by no means confined to females, but unless it’s used as a segue to a learning experience it’s a Bad Thing. Nobody should make a decision regarding what weapon to carry concealed – and possibly employ to take a life – without putting in the time to determine it’s the right weapon. I don’t care how much you love your Glock 19/M&P Bodyguard/ Ruger LC9/ Nighthawk T3/ Keystone Cricket or M41A, it may not serve your niece/nephew/brother-in-law/Aunt Pootie as well. By making this point right up front Turpeaux establishes the common sense, pragmatic tone that is maintained through the rest of the video – and she does it without any sense she is talking down to the viewer.

She provides some perspective on various weapon styles, then goes into great detail about various types of carry options. Naturally she focuses on how some of it specifically affects females, and not just with regard to what goes into the holster/purse/bag (it never occurred to me that someone might want lip gloss capacity and a place for a spare mag alongside a place to carry a folding knife). She breaks it down simply, putting things in context (often with a touch of humor) and never comes across as condescending, despite stopping frequently to further explain something that might seem obvious – such as when she defines ‘printing’ and what IDPA stands for.

It would take too long to go through all of what she says about carry methods, but there’s nearly an hour of it and it’s time well spent. She begins with belly bands, moves to the ‘Smart Carry’ then goes into other holsters, including ‘businesswoman’ type pieces and of course purses. Yes, she addresses the ramifications of on- vs. off-body carry and talks about the advantages/disadvantages of each piece: security, how it impacts movement, how it affects establishing a master grip and the drawstroke, etc. Some concealed carry purses have an ambi feature, which just makes sense but certainly wasn’t something I’d put much thought into. Ambi purses with reinforced steel-lined carry straps. Who knew? Some of the options she demonstrates are obvious. Some I’d never heard of or considered. The Safariland ALS shoulder holster is not one I’d have thought to recommend to one of my female cousins for instance, but when Turpeaux explains why one particular lady chose that carry method it makes sense.

Turpeaux does a great job of walking the audience through the whys and wherefores of each style. I have personally never spent this much time sorting how I conceal my handgun, but I don’t have boobs; nor do I wear anything much more complicated than jeans and an untucked shirt. My choices are far more simple than the typical female. Honestly, given what I know just about my nieces, sister and female cousins, I think the “Methods of Concealment” section makes this video worth the purchase price by itself.

She ends the section with imminently practical advice.

“There’s a lot of different options..I really think that you should consider maybe one or two different types of options, maybe one for work, one for when you’re having fun, you’re out and about on errands, so you might see some crossover where you’re interested in more than one method of concealment Just make sure that whichever method you decide to work with, or multiple methods, that you actually spend time training with them. It’s one thing to play around in the comfort of your own home in a controlled environment, try on different holsters, put your gun in and practice the draw, but you really need to incorporate a timer, put yourself on a timer, get into the range and really practice drawing from that concealment, pressing out and firing live rounds so that you can actually practice getting round on target under some simulated type of duress…” Nikki Turpeaux

The remainder of the video is equally well done. There’s some good discussion about training tools, how to fill up a range bag and proper safety gear. Cleaning kits, timers, scenario-based targets, vs. bullseye targets…some of it might seem obvious someone whose spent a lot of time on the range, but all of it’s valuable to anyone less experienced. Honestly some of it was good for me—bingo markers instead of pasties for target marking? WTH? Why didn’t anyone tell me to do this 20 years ago?

About 11 minutes into Training Equipment Part 1 she discusses prescription eyewear and the idea of changing the prescription of corrective lenses to correspond to the distance between your dominant eye and the front sight post. Make sure you watch that “optometrist” segment, it’s interesting.

One last thing, and I think it’s an important one. Turpeaux is not only relaxed, articulate and engaging, she looks like a regular female. Make no mistake, she is a very pretty lady, but she’s not dolled up like someone’s idea of a shootin’ MILF. No store-bought boobs in an UnderArmor shirt, no hair flipping in slow motion. She looks and talks to the audience as an everywoman; in my experience this will make many females far more likely to engage with her and listen to what she has to say.

If you have a female friend or family member who is a prospective shooter (or even one who has some experience with concealed carry), I cannot recommend this video enough. It captures everything I’d want to say to a new student and provides a nice ‘classroom’ style balance to what’s ultimately the most important – live fire time on the range. I enjoyed it, I learned from it, I will be having my family members watch it and hopefully I will at some point be able to learn more from her at one of her classes.